rps

Walleye on TRock: 1. Go to and read the lake stockton message board on walleye. Many of those who post there also fish and post about TRock and Bull Shoals. Tip: do not admit to fishing for other species. They look down on green fish. 2. Three methods seem to work, although I am trying to master a fourth. Method One: Target the pre spawn fish by fishing jerk baits and road runners tipped with crappie minnows above Beaver town. Cow patty flats and blue spring are good areas. Both are at big bends in the river. Method two: Nightcrawlers on harnesses dragged over flats, especially those that have a channel edge not too far away. The flat untimbered end of the Devil's Backbone, the flat at the mouth of the Roaring River, the flat at the high wires near Fletchers are examples in the upper end of the lake. Method three: Slowly trolling deep baits on thin braid. This is my most successful method. I use wiggle warts and reef runners (knockoffs from Cabelas) in the June/July/August time frame. Tip: Use a copy of the troller's bible and don't be afraid of timber. Method four: I am beginning to catch a few fish vertically fishing a spoon in trees which sit on the edge of a drop off at or near the thermocline. It's a lot like crappie fishing...you try a bunch of trees to find one with fish, but that one will often hold fish. Note: I haven't done it, but I've watched it: This last May/June a good fisherman fished four inch hand pour watermelon worms on a light carolina rig at the edge of the flooded treeline on flats. He moved the bait by drifting with it . He used the troll motor only to control the drift direction. He caught numerous walleye and bass, some of which were good keepers. Don't know the guy's name, but he fishes a camo Xpress tiller steer with a Mercury 60HP. If you see him, ask. He was very friendly and informative. 3. Several members of this board are diehard walleye fishermen. From time to time they post. They know more than I do. I don't think they spend the first few hours every time out flailing the water with a spook like I do. good luck rps

Jon: You did not tell us what lake or lakes you have tried for walleye. I know a lttle about TRock. Others can clue you in about Stockton and Bull Shoals. Let us hear from you. rps

Good report and thank you.

I have fished out of an Xpress 18 foot center console with a 2 stroke 90hp Yamaha for three years. Very dry, very stable, very solid built, and no carpet to rot or wear out. The inside is similar to a rhino truck bed liner and wears well. Several side consoles are stored at the same marina as I use (Holiday Island) and those owners are quite pleased with theirs. I happen to know of a near new used 17 foot SC with carpet, sonar, trailer, and a 50 or 60 hp Merc for sale near here. The ask price, according to Butch where it is consigned, is $9000. If you want I'll find out a phone number for you to call.

techo: I think part of the problem is that water temp is so homogenous right now we have fish at many different depths and in many different patterns. Read everyone's posts for the last two weeks and notice the diversity of methods. Having said that, remember that he who catches largemouths usually beats those who catch spots and smallmouths. Not always, but usually. I realize I fish a different end of the lake, but the last couple of weeks I have caught keeper largemouth at the way back end of coves in 2 to 6 feet of water while fishing buzz baits over laydowns and through bushes. If you can't develop a solid pattern, give that a try. Good luck.

Thank you.

I fished for four hours on Saturday afternoon with a good friend but casual fisherman from Tulsa. I had three fish, two of which were in the three pound range. The third was a not quite keeper. All were LM and came on a buzz bait in the back of creeks with shad. My friend could not spot cast to fish the lay downs and brush so he had only one dink on. Alan has closed the Holiday Island Marina for the winter. If you need gas etc. on the water, Eagle Rock is your only choice until you reach Big M. After the year Eagle Rock had, I do not know their plans for open close during the Fall.

redbud: Where Rock Creek joins the White the very, very long, J shaped point is called the Devil's Backbone. This is one of the primo walleye locations on the lake. The flat at point 26 where the Roaring River enters the White is also good. Try crawler harnesses and deep trolled white, silver, and firetiger crank baits. Good luck. BTW, great smallmouth. rps

I was encouraged by the reports in the last week of shallow fish and even some crank bait fish. I changed my game plan to accomodate the shorter days, the fog, and the chance of shallow fish. I left the marina at Holiday Island at 7:30 and fished Leatherwood Creek and several cove and creek points down stream from here. Seven spots in five hours, all from less than 15 feet. One on a jig with trailer, five on a 038 wart, and one small fish from a buzz bait. The jig fish and one of the wart fish were legal. One other wart fish was nearly so. I also fished a chug bug and a Mikey Jr. wake bait with zero success. The crank bait fish wanted a slow and erratic retrieve with pauses and starts. While the end result was not impressive, I am encouraged. I am more hopeful now that there will be a strong fall shallows bite this year. If one happened last year, I missed it. I remember fondly the year before last.

Thank you kindly.

Writing now is a sure way to being wrong. None the less, we are looking at the wettest year since when? Why not a wet winter? 920+ is my wager on Thanksgiving. How wrong am I?

Unless you find two days in a row of no generation, there will be chutes to travel down stream from Wildcat to Cotter. Uptream requires some water every day and some knowledge. My buddies and I always arranged to be the dumb Okies who bungled down river. It is an effective technique. Try it.

GO TO THE DOCTOR, NOW! Spider bites, if treated immediately, are not a big deal. They may cause pain, but they won't hurt you long term. My mother was bitten by a recluse on the end of her big toe. She ignored the bite. Six months later and a long visit to Scott White clinic in Temple, Texas, they told her she should have come in right away.

bojack: well done! Some years ago I was in a wine class with a high dollar French sommelier (wine dude) from Lindsey House in London, England. That place had just earned its first Michelin star (very big deal food and wine award). He asked, in his snotty french accent, what kinds of wine there were. Someone answered, "Two, chef." He said, "Oui?" The guy said, "Yes, chef. The kind you like and the kind you don't." The french dude agreed! If you like what you did, keep doing it!

Although the Red Raiders are doomed to extinction by the Sooners, I am totallly pleased you found and slayed the fish at my end of the lake. Today I had six classes of 13 and 14 year old small children in large bodies. After school I had 2 more for an hour. (What kind of genius earns an after school detention in the first three weeks of school?) I do love my job, but it does get in the way of fishing. The weather forecast for the next two days tells me I should be on the lake. I won't be. I will count on Techo to take advantage of the storm coming in. I will fish the blue bird skies and cold front conditions this weekend. I will count on the rest of you to tell me what I missed. As for walleyes - right now they are 25 to 32 feet down. They will hit slow trolled hardbaits in the 25 to 30 foot range, spoons jigged in trees in that range, and maybe even some crawlers or minnows tightlined at that same depth. BTW, the flat full of drowned trees just above HI on the opposite side from HI marina, is one of the best walleye locations on the upper end of the lake. Good luck all and file reports!

I fish lighter jigs than most as well. I don't tournament fish and don't need for the bait to get to the bottom in a hurry. I use 1/4, 5/16, and 1/2. I am a slow dragger with some very small hops. Most of the time, the bottom rocks and sticks will give you all the jerky motion you need. Of course, I will admit there are hundreds of better fishermen than I with differing opinions. Techo - do you suppose we could start a Eakins and Chompers buyers cooperative and work out discounts? Instead of those embroidered shirts with cool patches, we could have some second rate silkscreen done on Fruit of the Loom wife beaters that says "Ask me about my cheap bass."

BRBF: Whackem was nice to mention me as a topwater fisherman. He was even kinder to say I know something. He is right that topwater is my preference. I always have one or more on my rods. Having said that, I am sad to report this has not been the best topwater year on TR. It has been a good fishing year, just not a good topwater year. In past years, for me, September has been the start of chug bug (or pop-r, or spittin image) time. I start with a throw, let the rings die, begin a medium quick moving retrieve, one long pause in the middle of the target water, then a moving retrieve to the boat. That hasn't turned on for me, yet, this year. In the last two weeks, I have found a few topwater fish in the back of large creeks chasing very small baitfish. Two weeks ago I caught half a dozen or so small fish on a chugbug. Last Sunday I had six fish on a small black Booyah buzz bait with two counter-rotating blades. One fish was a good keeper. The rest were small. If and when I find a good bite on top, I will share.

YIKES! When I got up this morning, the lightning was thick as the trees around my house. Looked at the weather map and decided to try this afternoon. Went out at 11:00. Saw and heard bass feeding in the marina stalls as I was getting ready. If Alan didn't get so crazy when people fish the docks at Holiday Island, I would have started with that pattern. Caught a keeper on a Jewel jig almost with the first cast off the handicap pier. I moved to the back of Leatherwood and fished the baitfish schools I found on the flats with a buzz bait. Five fish with an 18 inch keeper as the bragging point. Went out to the main lake and fished two points. End of the day - eight fish in the boat, three keepers, two on jigs but the largest on a buzz bait. What fun.

The ideal situation is where you begin the refuel with a few small red coals left. These will ignite the new charcoal slowly without flame. When I mess up and let everything burn out, I use a chimney to light a small batch. I don't use fuel or waxed matches anymore - the chemicals linger for too long and flavor the meat.

Went out late on Sunday.

It is fantastic to read a vacation success story. It looks like you all had a great time. All of us hope you and your family come back again, soon and often. BTW, the pictures of the son are the ones I like. It's the generation thing, you know?

There are hundreds of rubs and steak seasonings out there. Most are good. Some are very good. Remember this: as soon as the spice is ground it begins to deteriorate. Within weeks the flavor diminsihes to the point you must bath the protein in the powder to get the flavor you want. In my cabinet I keep Cavenders Greek seasoning, Lowreys seasoned salt, and Old Bay. I use so much of these products they never get old after I open them. For all else I use a whirling blade coffee grinder to make rubs and seasoning from seeds and leaves that keep much better than ground spice. For fun try this in a grinder: 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon peppercorns 2 teaspoon cumin seeds 1 teaspoon oregano 1 tablespoon smoky paprika 1 teaspoon dried onion flakes or onion powder 1 teaspoon dried garlic flakes or garlic powder 1 teaspoon coriander seed 1/4 teaspoon celery seed 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes If you read my posts you may notice my rub recipes change from one day to the next. That's because they do. Someday I am going to write down my favorite version. As soon as I find it.

After the number of hooks I have put in my fingers the last three years, I am ready to mash all my hooks.

I don't know Don's extra hook trick. I will guess it is something clever like the hook arrangement on the freestyle jigging spoons. I can vouch for the effectiveness of the hook arrangement the BPS XPS spoons use. There is an article on the BPS website about the freestyle spoon. Check it out.

From your descriptions of boat traffic, guys, I guess I was very lucky Monday. Of course, I was off the water by 11:30, I never went into Missouri or anywhere near a well known public launch, and I am so far up lake that the number of private and rental slips is small. Holiday Island has only four docks and the next closest "large " marina is Eagle Rock. That is six or seven river miles away. By the time you reach Big M, from there on down lake you begin to find big boat mania. Chub minnow: when I owned and trailered the river boat, I used to fish the upper Kings quite a lot. Sorry you got skunked up there. I usually, but not always, found the fish a little easier to talk into biting on the Kings. Of course, I did more flippin and more traditional laydown fishing up there than I do near Holiday Island. Champ: for years I have always said, "There is always something on the boat that needs fixing." Right now I have a rear light that bends over from a close encounter with a tree limb while I was vertical spooning. To my shame, that is the second light pole I have bent this year. I haven't fixed it yet because I know, as soon as I fix it, something else will go wrong. Thankfully, it won't be near as expensive or irksome to fix as a sonar or troll motor problem. Good luck in the tournament.